Game-counter



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(No Model.)

No. 411.952. Patented Oct, 1,1889.

U irnD STATES n'rnnr rrrcne W'ILLIAM V. CLAY, OF CHICAGO, lLLINCIS.

GAME-COUNTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,952, dated October 1, 1889.

Application filed April 3, 1888. Serial No. 269,444. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, W'ILLIAM \V. CLAY, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Game-Counters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to counting devices for games, and is particularly adapted for use in a game of cards familiarly known as progressive euchre. In this particular game it has been customary heretofore to provide each player at the beginning of the evening with a blank card, and Whenever said player wins or loses a game to affix to said card a disk or star, the Winning games being designated by the employment of stars of a different color from the stars used to designate the losing games. At the close of the evening the person whose card exhibits the greatest number of winning stars is designated as the winner of the evening or of any prize which may be offered. These disks or stars are commonly affixed to the card by means of some adhesive substance applied to one side of the star. It is found in practice that these disks or stars become very easily detached from the players card, and, falling upon the floor, become lost before the close of the even ing; also, that by connivance between players or between players and the person whose duty it is to aifix the different stars it is quite easy to make a false register of the number of games won by any particular person by giving to said person or affixing to his card a star designating a game won, when in fact the player had lost the game. Thus the matter of registering accurately the number of games actually won becomes a matter of honesty between the players, rather than a matter of certainty,when using the above-mentioned blank card and number of stars. To remedy this objection, an ordinary hand-punch has been suggested, whereby a hole may be punched in the card of a player Whenever said player had Won a game 5 but in the manipnlat-ion of such a punch players unaccustomed to its use not unfrequently make two perforations or holes when intending to make but one. Again, it is a matter of honesty between the operator of the punch and of the different players whether they receive the correct number of holes indicating the number of games won. In this game of progressive euchre the players change seats after each game, and the winning couple moves to another table. In the confusion attending this change of places, and in the hurrying of beginning the game at the next table, the afiixing of stars to a card or the punching of holes in the card to indicate either games won or lost is sometimes omitted or, by inadvertence, repeated, and thus no accuracy of registration is possible without the exercise of extreme care on the part of all the players in the room.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a counter by which the above objections are not only removed, but also the possibility of error is reduced to a minimum.

Another feature of the invention is to provide a counter which will not only register a total number of games either lost or won,but which shall register which particular game during the evening has been lost and which particular game has been won, and also the order in which such games have been lost or non.

The invention consists, primarily, in the employment of a card or other suitable device provided with a plurality of detachable portions approximating or equal in number to the number of games which it is desired to play during the evening, and which detachable parts are adapted to be removed by a winning player from the card of his opposing and losing player as each game is 0011-,

eluded. The count or register of the number of games Won is therefore accurately measured by the number of games lost by each player, which lost games are designated by the places upon the players card left vacant when the winning person removes one of the detachable parts of the card.

The invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the accompanying drawings.

In said drawingsl have illustrated one form of my invention in Figures 1 and 5, wherein the removable parts are shown integral with IOO the card and located upon the outer edge thereof. Fig. 2 illustrates the same form of counter shown in Fig. l, a portion of the detachable parts, however, having been re moved. Figs. 3 and 4: illustrate a modified form of the detachable portion of the counter. Fig. 3 shows the appearance of the card at the beginning of the evening, and Fig. 4 its appearance at the close of the evening.

In said drawings, A is the body of the counter, which, as above stated, may be of card-board or other suitable material. At the upper end of said counter a hole or opening a is provided, by which the counter may be held by the player in a customary manner by a ribbon or otherwise.

The counter A may or may not be lettered, ornamented, or numbered with the title of the game in which it is used, or other information, according to the fancy of the user. Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 5, I provide upon the outer edge of said part A a plurality of separate detachable portions B, which detachable portions maybe secured to the body of the counter in a familiar manneras, for example, by the perforations 12, illustrated. The detachable portions B are to be removed from the counter of a losing player by the winner, and may or may not be retained by said winner as a souvenir of the occasion.

The card illustrated in Fig. 1 is adapted, for example, to register the result of seventeen games; and the card shown in Fig. 2 illustrates such registry-showing that the second, seventh, eighth, twelfth, and sixteenth games have been lost.

It is to be observed that if the winning player simply sees that a detachable portion B is accurately removed from the card of his opposing and losing player at the end of each game the card of such losing person will correctly register the status of that person at the close of the evening, and that therefore each player acts as a check to his opposing player.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown the detachable portions B as having been stamped from the interior of the counter A on all sides except a small portion of their edge or periphery. This narrow uncut portion may be scored or not, as desired, so as to be readily detachable. I have also shown in these figures V-shaped cuts C upon the main portion of A, in which cuts 0 the winning player may insert the detachable part B, which he has just removed from his opposing and losing players card. This will be a simple and very convenient way of retaining the detachable portions B when the same are of value I as souvenirs. WVhen these detachable parts B are decorated or ornamented for the purpose of being retained by winning players as souvenirs, they may assume various shapes and forms, and be more or less expensive.

It will be understood that the invention may assume a variety of forms, and I deem it unnecessary to recite herein with greater particularity such variety, the gist of the invention lying in the counter provided with a plurality of detachable portions adapted to be detached whenever a game has been lost, so that the number of games actually won during the evening or during the series of games is registered by the number of detachable parts thus removed.

I claim as my invention 1. A counter for games, comprising a main portion or hotly, as A, and a plurality of parts, as B, said parts being entirely independent of each other, and joined to the bodyA at a portion of their margins and separately detachable from said body, substantially as described.

2. A game-counter comprising a main portion or body, as A, provided with a plurality of detachable parts secured to said body at a portion of their margins and independent of each other, an d means permanently revealing the number of parts detached from said body, whereby the number of games lost is indicated, substantially as described.

A game-counter comprising a main portion or body, as A, and a plurality of separately detachable parts, as B,which are separately secured to said body at a portion of their margins, one of which parts is to be removed when a game is lost, said body of the counter being provided also with a plurality of V-shaped cuts, as 0, adapted to receive the detachable portion of an other similar counter, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM IV. CLAY.

Witnesses:

TAYLOR E. BROWN, 0. N. WILLIs. 

